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Honor page!

Southland would like to honor Staff Sargeat J.D. Skeans.

James and Barbara Skeans, Married for 8 years, met while both serving the Army as Military Police offices in Kaiserslautern, Germany; Married on March, 14 1997. Despite several deployments we managed to start a family, our first son (Justin) was born at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Seeing how many brothers and my sister had successfully given birth to one boy and one girl we figured that it would be a cinch. So we tried for a baby girl to add to our family, we were excited to give Justin a sibling to protect after all that's what big brothers do. Surprise, surprise you are going to have twins, this is the information that was given to us by Sonogram technician. Our twin boys (Dallas and Devon) were born on Nov 6, 1999. Dallas and Devon were premature twins born at 26 weeks gestation. This alone is bad enough being that their body weight just over a pound (Dallas 716 grams, Devon 768 grams). Dallas contracted E-coli bacteria which in turns caused his lungs to collapse, while he was in the NTUC ( Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit),in addition to being born with club foot and also Cerebral Palsy. Dallas later developed ROR (Retinopathy of Prematurely) and lost his vision in his right eyes. He later had to have the eye removed due to its shrinking and causing him pain. He now has a prosthetic eye
big smile. Dallas and Devon both have also been diagnosed with type 1 Ehler's Danlos Syndrome and Kleinfelter's Syndrome Ehler's Danlos is a tissue connective disorder that affects their skin and organs. Their condition is potential terminal, no one wants hear news like this concerning their children and especially from two kids who are high spirited and full of life. Kleinfelter's syndrome affects their chromosomes, they have an extra chromosome (XXY) opposed to (XY). Boys will be boys and because of that fact and the Ehler's Danlos we have made several visits to the Emergency room. Not just in Kentucky but in Texas, Alabama and Florida. Dallas has had two seizures that required ER visits, the first was a Febrile Seizure which was caused by him reaching a temperature of 104, the second and most recent was on July 9th, where he went into a full blown seizure, and luckily the same ER doctor that treated him in December was on hand and was there again in July. Dallas was put on a ventilator and life fighted to Kosair Childrens Hospital and ( where we have been on several occasions). Dallas has been hospitalized for Club foot surgery, hip rotation, tethered spinal chord, having this eye removed, seizures, having pins removed from his hips, and is scheduled again to go back in Nov for treatment involving Ehler's related issue. Devon has his own set of problems and will also need surgery for tethered spinal cord, but Devon doesn't let this get him down. He tries so hard to be like other kids even though we know he's not ( we haven't told him that he's not like other kids). People talk about heroes all around the word; I'll give some example of hero's right here in Kentucky. First, i must give praise to the EMT's in Meade County, they have come to our rescue a number of times and I can't thank them enough for the job they do. Second, the Doctors and staff of Hard in Memorial Hospital, they too are heroes doing Hero work every day. Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, in addition to everything else, i am afraid they may start charging us rent. They more than the other two save countless lives everyday and without them, there would not be as many bright smiles in the world. I would also like to mention Ireland Army Community Hospital on Fort Knox. They too have been extremely helpful in dealing with all the issues dealing with the boys. Even though the boys won't be able to play sports, take gym classes, or even go out to recess like other children we are discovering new ways to keep them busy and entertained.

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